First Meetings
by harmonybyrd
Summary: Everyone's favourite Half-Elven twins meet an old, grey pilgrim on the road. Please read and review.


A/N: This is answering a challenge to write a vignette about a first meeting/impression between two (or, in this case, three) characters. This challenge was actually set by me, but I was convinced to write a vignette too by Tinywings and Songbreeze (the omnipresent)-those whom I challenged- and should have their stories up on the site (they're on my Favourite Authors). Hope you like this.  
  
First meetings.  
  
"Where are you, you little demons?"  
  
Elladan and Elrohir, who were hiding behind a bush, tried hard not to giggle. Their parents were waiting on a guest- Cúrunir the Istar, the twins had been told, but unlike the other Istar, Mithrandir (who had yet to arrive), he didn't care much for animals or children.  
  
And so they were being looked after by Glorfindel, and had managed, for the first time in ages, to give Glorfindel the slip. They tried hard not to laugh as they watched him tear branches apart as he tried to find them.  
  
"Come on," mouthed Elladan, pointing down one of the paths leading out of the garden. "Let's go explore!" The two young Elflings crept away, leaving Glorfindel to tear the plants apart looking for them.  
  
Within half an hour they were on a road, not too far outside the Last Homely House. Elladan had picked up a knobbly old branch, almost as tall as he was, and was now holding it before him like a sword.  
  
"Back from this place, foul one, or I, Elladan the Invincible, shall smite thee!" he cried, swiping the stick at Elrohir, though pulling it back at the last minute, so he didn't actually hit his twin. Elrohir grinned, and picked up a nearby rock.  
  
"Thou shalt never smite me, Elf!" he cried, holding the rock in an outstretched hand, pretending it was a Palantír. "Feel my wrath!"  
  
Elladan ran forward, and slowed to a stop. Elrohir punched the air in front of him and Elladan ran backwards, pretending to slam into a tree and fall down. Elrohir cackled evilly and stood over Elladan, who tapped Elrohir's ankle. Elrohir promptly fell over and Elladan stood over him, holding his stick to Elrohir's throat threateningly.  
  
"I shall smite thee now, Elrohir the Evil! I shall purge Middle-Earth of you! I -"  
  
Elladan stopped. Elrohir looked up. Someone was coming up the road on a horse. The twins looked at each other, and scrambled off the road, hiding behind a tree.  
  
A chestnut horse appeared around the corner, pulling a very weathered- looking wooden cart. Sitting at the front of the cart was a hunched-over being, with long grey hair and beard and skin that was withered and wrinkled like a dead leaf. Next to him on the seat was a long knobbly stick, which, to the twins, looked similar to Elladan's. He had some strange long, thin object sticking out of his mouth with smoke coming out of a large, round opening out the end of it.  
  
"Who's that?" whispered Elrohir "Is it the other Istar, do you think?"  
  
Elladan shrugged "I don't know, but you know what Glorfindel says."  
  
Elrohir shot his brother a confused look. "Glorfindel says lots of things, and you never listen to any of them."  
  
Elladan scowled at his brother "'Looks can be deceiving!' Let's think what he and Ada would do if they saw a suspicious stranger who seems to be approaching Imladris."  
  
"Suspicious stranger? Elladan, he looks as though he's going to fade away in the sun. What possible threat can he pose?"  
  
"They'd probably watch him for a bit, and wait for right moment to attack," continued Elladan, completely ignoring his twin.  
  
Elrohir sighed. Elladan always got so carried away with these games; he just didn't know when to stop.  
  
Elladan scrambled out from behind the tree and down the small slope. Elrohir's eyes widened fearfully. "Elladan, get back here!" he hissed, though he didn't for one minute think that this strange old man was at all dangerous. Glorfindel was right; looks could be deceiving.  
  
Elladan, however, paid his younger brother no attention and crouched, ready to jump out in to the middle of the road, right in the way of the strange man's cart. Elrohir suddenly had an idea.  
  
"Elladan! Elladan, Ada and Glorfindel wouldn't just attack a stranger on the road," he called, trying to be quiet so the strange man didn't hear, but Elladan did. After all, this stranger could have even better hearing than theirs.  
  
Elladan looked up at his brother, scowling. "So what would they do?"  
  
Elrohir slid down the slope to stand next to Elladan and thought about it for a moment "They'd - they'd follow the stranger to watch him and confirm their suspicions and then do something about it." Elrohir had just said whatever had come in to his head, but Elladan was smiling at his suggestion.  
  
"Good thinking Elrohir! Come on!"  
  
Elrohir paled "What?"  
  
"When he comes past we'll jump in the back of his cart, he'll never notice, then we'll watch what he does."  
  
Elrohir groaned; this wasn't quite what he'd had in mind! "Elladan, we can't just jump into his cart like that! He might hear us."  
  
"He won't if we're careful. C'mon, he's coming past now."  
  
Elrohir looked up to see the cart passing their hiding place. Elladan sprang out from behind the tree, and followed the cart silently. Then he jumped up on to the back of the cart and hid under the cloth, covering the cart's contents. He poked his head out and beckoned to Elrohir to follow him.  
  
Elrohir sighed inwardly. He didn't want to follow his twin, but didn't want to be left behind. Elladan poked his head out of the cloth again and beckoned again mouthing "Come on!" and Elrohir did just that. After all, he thought as he caught on to the back of the cart, just as much as he didn't want to be left behind, he didn't want to leave Elladan on his own. When he did, Elladan ended up in even more trouble.  
  
As Elrohir caught hold of the edge of the cart and started to pull himself up, the cart went over a bump in the road and Elrohir was thrown forward on to his face, then slid back and almost fell back over the edge again. Elladan reached out from the cloth and grabbed hold of the neck of Elrohir's tunic and tried to pull him up in to the cart. Unfortunately, in doing so he almost lost his balance and fell off the cart along with Elrohir. The cart went over another bump, which sent the twins flying into the back of the cart, hitting the back of the stranger's seat.  
  
Elladan was too stunned to do anything but think of what was going to happen to them once they were discovered; Elrohir, however, recovered more quickly and pulled the cloth over himself and his twin, hoping the cart's owner wouldn't be able to see them.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Mithrandir, who was sitting on the front of his cart, started as he felt something crash into the back of the seat after going over two bumps in the road, and heard a loud thump and two small voices cry out. He half-turned in his seat and looked in the back of the cart. The cloth he'd used to cover his belongings had shifted slightly, and two of the lumps under the cloth were quivering slightly. Sticking out of the cloth were four small feet, wearing dark brown moccasins.  
  
The old Istar smiled and turned back to the road, shaking his head slightly. Elflings born in the third age. he almost choked on his pipe remembering his last visit to Mirkwood, when Thranduil's two youngest tried to convince him that their Father had enforced a toll of two toffees to all those who wished to enter his realm.  
  
He could hear the two Elflings in the back starting to whisper to each other, no doubt coming up with some kind of plan to get out of trouble.  
  
* * * * *  
  
The twins stayed still and quiet, as they had never done before in their lives. After a few minutes had past, the stranger didn't seem to have investigated further into what had made the noise, so it seemed safe for them to start discussing what to do next.  
  
"How long are we going to stay in here, Elladan? He might not even be going to Imladris."  
  
Elladan nodded, trying to look as though this hadn't only just occurred to him as well. "We'll keep a lookout and if he goes past Imladris, we'll jump off the cart and hide before he sees us."  
  
"And what if he is going to Imladris? Ada and Naneth will have someone help him unpack his cart, and they'll find us and we're meant to be playing the garden under Glorfindel's observation! And if he starts to go in to Imladris we can't just jump off the back of the cart, because then the guards will see us! What are we going to -"  
  
"Shush! I'm trying to think!" snapped Elladan. "You poke your head out and keep watch!"  
  
Elrohir obediently poked his head out from under the cover, and then ducked back under again looking even paler and even more worried than usual. It looked as though they'd spent too long discussing escape plans.  
  
"We've just gone through the gates of Imladris!" he said in a panicky whisper. "We're doomed! Ada is going to stop us from going on that riding trip next week and Naneth will make us practise dancing while everyone else does archery, and -"  
  
While Elrohir continued to despair and list all the worst punishments their parents could, and probably would, inflict upon them, Elladan racked his mind trying to think of a way to escape the said punishments his twin was listing. There was no way they'd be able to jump out of the cart now without someone seeing them, so perhaps the best thing to concentrate on was a plausible story as to what they were doing in the back of the cart.  
  
"- probably get us to polish Glorfindel's armour, and -"  
  
" Elrohir, shut up and help me think of way to explain what we're doing in the back of this cart!"  
  
Elrohir blinked at him. "Why not the truth? We saw a stranger approaching Imladris, and thought it best to follow him and see what he was up to?"  
  
Elladan sighed, "Because, brother mine, we are supposed to be in the garden, remember?"  
  
Elrohir, however looked thoughtful. "Suppose we saw him from the garden? And suppose we couldn't find Glorfindel? And suppose we saw him breathing smoke, everyone knows only evil things breath smoke and so decided to follow him but knew we wouldn't be able to keep up? And suppose we climbed in the back to see what he had in here and try and learn what he was up to?"  
  
Elladan shrugged, "Awful lot of supposing, Elrohir, maybe we should -"  
  
Suddenly the cart stopped.  
  
The twins fell silent, and looked at each other, both looking pale and afraid. They heard the withered being climb down from his perch at the front of the cart and walk around to the back. This is it! Thought Elladan. We're really for it now! Thought Elrohir.  
  
A hand grasped an edge of the cloth and pulled it back from the cart with a flourish. The frightened twins looked up. And, instead of pointing his staff at them and chanting some strange spell, or shouting at them, furious for hiding in the back of his cart and spying on him, the withered old being smiled at them and winked. Then he put the cloth back over the cart, arranging it (though the twins couldn't see) so that their moccasined feet weren't visible.  
  
"Don't move," he murmured to the perplexed twins. "And stay quiet. Don't worry, I won't give you away."  
  
Elladan and Elrohir exchanged puzzled glances, but did as they were bidden, more because they heard their Ada's voice than anything else.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Mithrandir! It is good to see you, my friend! How are you? And what delayed you? We feared you'd never get here!"  
  
Mithrandir laughed "My apologies for being so late in coming, Master Elrond; I merely wished to collect some weed from my pipe. As for how I am, I feel slightly wearied by my journey. But other than that I am very well, thank you."  
  
"Wonderful; if you'd like to come in, Cúrunir is waiting; someone will take your horse and cart to the stables-"  
  
"Thank you, Master Elrond, but I'll see my horse to the stable myself, and there are a few things I need to get out of my pack."  
  
Elrond was clearly slightly perplexed at this, but nodded. "Very well, you know where they are?" The Istar nodded.  
  
"Then I shall see you inside," said Elrond, and with that he turned and walked back indoors.  
  
Mithrandir smiled, and led his horse to the stables, stopping to talk to a few old friends and acquaintances, including a very flustered looking Glorfindel.  
  
"Suilad, Glorfindel."  
  
"Suilad, Mithrandir," said Glorfindel, looking slightly distracted. "Have you seen Elladan and Elrohir anywhere?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
Glorfindel shot him a confused look "What do you - oh, of course you haven't met them. They're two Elflings, twins, about twenty-five with dark hair. They're supposed to be in the garden, but they've disappeared. They're probably dropping out of trees on passing travellers, if I know those two." The Elda grimaced at the thought and Mithrandir fought to hide a smile.  
  
"I'm sure they'll turn up sooner or later."  
  
"Well, for their sakes it had better be sooner rather than later!" Glorfindel excused himself and walked off in the direction of the kitchens.  
  
When Mithrandir reached the stables, a pair of Elves from the Imladris guard was putting away their horses' tack. He waited until they had departed, and then pulled the cloth back once more. The Elflings looked scared out of their wits; no doubt they heard Glorfindel's threat.  
  
"Come on, out you come," Mithrandir said, lifting them out one at a time. "If you're the Elflings Glorfindel is looking for, you had best hurry and get back to the garden."  
  
They nodded and said: "We will," in perfect unison.  
  
"Thank you for helping us," said one.  
  
"And for not telling," added the second.  
  
"You're quite welcome," replied Mithrandir, smiling. "You see, not all things that breathe smoke are evil." He chuckled at their stunned faces. "Run along, now."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ten minutes later the twins had snuck back into the garden and were pretending to play with a pair of wooden swords.  
  
"Lucky he was so nice," remarked Elladan.  
  
"Very," agreed Elrohir. "You know, I think he might be the other Istar."  
  
Elladan nodded "Hope he is; Ada said the other Istar knew lots of stories and legends. Even if he's not, I like him."  
  
The garden gate creaked as Glorfindel stormed in looking thoroughly annoyed, and opened his mouth to shout something. However, whatever he was about to shout died in his throat as he caught sight of the twins. After recovering from this small shock, he folded his arms and glared at them.  
  
"Pray tell me, where have you been?"  
  
Elladan tried to look him in the eyes. "In the garden, Glorfindel."  
  
"Oh really?" the Elda asked, his eyes flashing slightly. "Then tell me why, even with Erestor's help, I haven't found you after going through this garden twice?"  
  
Elrohir looked up at him. "We're very good at hiding?"  
  
Glorfindel sighed, anger falling from his face, replaced by weariness. "I don't know where you two have been for the past hour, and I'm not sure I want to, so let's leave it at that, shall we?"  
  
The twins nodded.  
  
"Good, now, come on, the other Istar, Mithrandir, has arrived and would like to meet you, though I cannot imagine why anyone would want to."  
  
"He loves us really," Elrohir whispered to Elladan, who smiled and nodded.  
  
True, thought Glorfindel, who had also heard, But the Valar only know why; you both put me through enough.  
  
He took them through to their parents sitting room, where they hugged their Ada and Naneth, told them what they'd been doing (skipping the part about leaving the garden to explore and then stowing away in a stranger's cart) and bowed to Cúrunir, the first Istar and head of the order.  
  
He jerked his head in a nod of acknowledgement, watching them disapprovingly from under thick dark eyebrows, which were a shocking contrast to his snow-white hair and beard, both of which were stick straight. He was very tall, taller than their Ada and almost taller than Glorfindel, with an air of great power, and because of this there didn't seem to be any warmth in him.  
  
The twins privately agreed he looked like a cross between a snowy owl and an eagle of the Misty Mountains (though they'd never actually seen one they'd seen pictures and had had them described to them, mainly by Glorfindel); as well as having the colouring of a snowy owl he had the cool, glaring, proud eyes of an eagle and a large, beaky nose.  
  
And sitting next to Cúrunir was the withered old man in grey.  
  
"These are our two sons Elladan and Elrohir; boys, this is Mithrandir."  
  
The twins smiled at him and shook hands with him as Elrond bade.  
  
Mithrandir smiled back at them. "Well met, young ones." 


End file.
